Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Brijmohan Agrawal has urged Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai and Home Minister Vijay Sharma to undertake a comprehensive overhaul of the Raipur police commissionerate, citing a severe shortage of personnel and the growing demands of a rapidly expanding urban population.
In a letter to the state government, Agrawal highlighted the need to fill more than 660 vacancies in the commissionerate and sought the deployment of at least 500 additional police personnel to strengthen law and order, traffic management and policing across the state capital.
Agrawal pointed out that several senior-level posts had been created as part of the commissionerate structure, but the shortage of personnel at various levels was undermining its effectiveness. He urged the government to ensure that sanctioned positions were filled at the earliest and that adequate manpower was made available to meet the policing requirements of the expanding city.
The BJP MP noted that Raipur has undergone significant demographic and urban growth over the past decade. According to him, the city's population has increased from around 15 lakh in 2016 to more than 25 lakh at present.
The sharp rise in population, coupled with rapid urbanisation, industrial expansion and increased vehicular movement, has placed additional pressure on the city's existing policing infrastructure.
Agrawal particularly drew attention to the traffic wing, which he said currently has only 46 personnel. Given the substantial increase in vehicles and traffic volume in Raipur, he argued that the existing strength was inadequate to effectively manage traffic and enforce road safety regulations.
He called for strengthening the traffic police with additional personnel and resources so that congestion, violations and road safety challenges could be addressed more effectively.
Agrawal also proposed expanding the jurisdiction of the Raipur police commissionerate to include fully urbanised areas that are currently under the Raipur rural police administration.
Among the areas he specifically sought to bring under the commissionerate are Swami Vivekananda Airport and the Siltara industrial area. He argued that these strategically important locations have witnessed growing commercial, industrial and passenger activity and therefore require policing arrangements suited to their increasingly urban character.
Bringing these areas under the commissionerate, he suggested, would help ensure more coordinated policing and quicker responses to law-and-order challenges.
The MP further urged the state government to consider bringing the entire Raipur district under the police commissionerate in phases.
Such an expansion, he said, would allow the government to align policing arrangements with the changing geographical and demographic profile of the district. A phased approach could also help the administration address manpower and infrastructure requirements systematically while extending commissionerate-style policing to areas experiencing rapid urbanisation.
Agrawal's demand comes against the backdrop of Raipur's growing importance as Chhattisgarh's administrative, commercial and industrial hub. The expansion of residential areas, industrial zones, transportation networks and business activity has increased the responsibilities of the police force.
The proposed recruitment and deployment of additional personnel would be aimed not only at improving law-and-order management but also at enhancing traffic regulation, crime prevention, emergency response and policing in newly urbanised areas.
The BJP MP's letter effectively calls for matching Raipur's policing infrastructure with the city's changing needs. Filling the more than 660 vacancies, adding 500 personnel and rationalising the commissionerate's jurisdiction could provide the manpower necessary to strengthen policing in the state capital.
The proposed inclusion of the airport, Siltara industrial belt and other urbanised areas could further create a more integrated policing framework across Raipur.
With the city's population having grown substantially in recent years, Agrawal has argued that the police administration must keep pace with this expansion. The state government's response to the proposals is likely to determine how quickly manpower shortages are addressed and whether the commissionerate's jurisdiction is expanded to cover the rapidly urbanising areas of Raipur district.
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